Latur resident arrested from Solapur district for killing his friend during fight

Latur, Dec 24 (PTI) A man accused of killing a labourer, who was also his friend, in Latur town of Maharashtra has been arrested from Solapur district after being on the run for more than two months, a police official said on Tuesday.

The accused, identified as Sultan Gaffar Qureshi, a resident of Shahavalli Mohalla, was nabbed on Sunday afternoon after a multi-state hunt, he said.

Qureshi and his labourer friend Paigambar Hajimalang Sayyed (28), who lived in Babhalgaon in Latur tehsil, got into a fight over some issue outside a wine shop on the night of October 10 in the Ganjgolai area, he said.

During the scuffle, Qureshi picked up a sharp a weapon and slashed Sayyed's neck, killing him, he said, quoting the complaint filed by the deceased's family.

The wife of the victim had filed a complaint at the Gandhi Chowk police station. Based on the complaint, a case was registered under section 103 (1) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita related to murder and a search launched for the absconding accused.

A special team, led by Inspector Sanjeevan Mirkale, was formed to pursue the accused. The team scoured potential hideouts in Hyderabad, Solapur, Udgir, Beed (Maharashtra) and Bidar (Karnataka), while gathering intelligence through informants.

The investigation was challenging as Qureshi had severed all ties with his relatives and lived a nomadic life. He survived by living wherever he could and taking up any odd jobs to make ends meet, said the official.

Acting on a tip-off, the team learned that Qureshi was hiding near the Solapur-Karnataka border. On December 22, it conducted a raid in a small village under Mangalwedha tehsil in Solapur district on the Maharashtra-Karnataka border and apprehended him, he added. PTI COR RSY